Zootopia: Star Bound Conspiracy
by SR2Turoka-1
Summary: Summary inside. Sorry, I would fit it here, but the summary is exactly how I want it, and it is too long. This story is an AU that is technically a triple crossover with Zootopia, Elite: Dangerous, and a personal sci-fi series of mine that I have been working on. There will be plenty of OC's in this story, as you can tell from reading my summary. May move to Crossover section later
1. Prologue

Zootopia: Star Bound Conspiracy

Chapter One: Prologue

 _Summary: AU. Having wanted to be a police officer since a kid, Judy has been with the Zootopia Federation Systems Authority for 3 years. Over time, she has proven able to handle any case and crime in the city of Zootopia. However, trouble soon arrives when a Black Market deal goes sideways, and she finds that this crime is part of a bigger threat that could threaten not only the Zootopia Federation, but the whole Galaxy and the six alien species that share it with them. But Judy soon realizes that to crack this case, she needs help, someone that has inside knowledge of the criminal underbelly of the galaxy. Soon, she gets a break when a certain fox gets pulled into the case. Follow this unlikely duo of an Authority Officer and a smuggler as they embark on a journey that takes them across the galaxy, encountering crime syndicates, lawless and uncharted sectors of space, Space Pirates, and more as these two embark on a story full of action, mystery, loss, suspense and love as they set out to stop this star bound conspiracy before it can tear apart the galaxy._

 _Fear…_

That was all that raced through my brain as I ran for my life through the dark, eerie and decaying interior of the Starport hanger I was in. The pads on the bottom of my feet echoed through the lifeless, metal hanger with a rapid and frantic smack. I could feel my lungs heaving and my feet aching and not just from the running itself. I knew I couldn't stop for I knew that the cause of my fear was ferociously and ruthlessly following me in the hanger. I wished I had something that could kill this damn monster, but I couldn't find my laser pistol or tranquilizer gun anywhere on my person. I could hear the echoing heavy metallic crashing steps of my aggressor chasing me. I looked over my shoulder to see the dark silhouette of my aggressor come running after me. I soon found a scattered array of abandoned fighters left for decades to rot and erode and I turned a sharp right as I skidded and nearly crashed into the body of the Eagle fighter that lay lopsided next to me. I knew I broke sight with my attacker enough to dive under the underside of another Eagle that rested on its landing gears. I saw a spot on the underside that was ripped open with exposed wiring and tubes hanging out of it. I hastily crawled into the draping and welcoming mess as I felt my heart pounding as I panted softly for air. My nose twitched as I could hear the sound of my aggressor's footsteps slowdown and in a moment stop.

My fur was covered in sweat and dirt as I waited to hear what would happen next. I then heard slow heavy steps get louder and closer as I panicked wondering if it could find me here. The fear of dying right now had consumed my entire body as laid concealed and petrified with terror. Suddenly, a dull metallic leg came into view as it stepped right next to where I was hiding. I covered my mouth with my paw to hold back the gasp that so desperately wanted to escape my throat. I could see the other leg come into view as both of them moved in a slow circle as they walked, evident that my pursuer was looking for me. I suddenly saw it stop and stay still for a moment as I could feel tears begin to cascade as I silently cried with my paw over my mouth to hide any noise I could make. I didn't even dare breathe.

The footsteps soon began to walk off and out of sight from under the hull and exposed wires of the Eagle. I waited for a good while before I even thought of moving, still terrified over my situation. Against my better judgement, I peeked my head out from the wires and darted my eyes from left to right and then left again. I put one paw out to begin to crawl out when I felt a monstrously strong hand grab my right arm and whip me out and throw me about 20 feet away. I landed with a painful and hard smack with the solid ground. I felt as if I got body slammed by a sumo wrestler at that moment. I groaned and cried out as I lifted my upper body up to see my aggressor slowly walk over towards me. I yelped and stood up to run.

Then pain shot through my body as I heard a crackling pew sound. I fell to the ground on my belly and reached for the sight of the pain. It was my right leg, which now had a divet in it that felt moderately deep that was burned and scorched. I had just been shot by a laser.

My leg burned as I crawled for my life. I could then hear a horrifying mechanical voice then speak to me with such a deep tone that it added more to its unnatural voice.

"Such spirit and strength you have rabbit, and yet it was all wasted" spoke my attacker.

I rolled over to look at the dark and metallic body of my attacker to see him stand over me with a blocky laser sidearm in its hand. My eyes gazed up in terror at my attacker. I knew this would be the end for me.

It then leaned over me and said, "No one outside of the chosen will be spared the coming storm."

It then raised its laser pistol at my head and all I could do was stare at the shadowy attacker of mine while I waited for the end.

It then said, "Glory unto the Father who protects the Hive."

A flash of light is all I saw before everything went black.


	2. A Day in the Life of an Officer

Chapter 2: A Day in the Life of an Officer

I woke up with a start and was gasping and panting for air. My eyes darted around the dark room, trying to make out where I was as my heart, even for a bunny, was beating extremely fast. I slowly began to regain my composure as I took notice of the familiarity that was my bedroom of my apartment. I then breathed in and exhaled with a sigh of relief upon realizing that what I had just experienced was a dream…or more like a nightmare.

 _But if I was dreaming, why was it so real_ I thought? The pain, the fear and even the deep voice of my attacker had all seemed so real that it almost brought me to tears thinking about it. I mean I know I'm a Systems Authority Officer, and that I do get thrown into situations almost every week that can become a life or death situation. I pulled back the covers and gazed at the display of my alarm clock. The holographic orange display cast a dim light into the room as I read the time on the clock.

5:00 A.M.

 _Well, gotta get up in 15 minutes, so might as well get an early start_ I thought while letting out a sigh.

I swung out of bed and gazed down at body to see that my purple tank top and my pajama pants were wet with sweat and my fur was almost soaked with sweat too.

I then spoke, "Wake up mode."

Suddenly, the lights to my apartment turned on and the blackout shutters to my bedroom window turned sideways to reveal the city outside. The lights would stay on for almost another hour since the sun would start rising in half an hour.

I smiled slightly, happy about the fact that I recently installed a Homeatron 3000 in my apartment. It wasn't cheap, but it automated nearly everything in my apartment from appliances and lighting even down to preparing meals for me when I was too tired, or just didn't want to.

I went into the kitchen and was greeted by the delicious aroma of fresh made pancakes prepared by the 3D Food Printer that was linked to the Homeatron system. While these 3D printers weren't exactly known for making the best tasting food, they still weren't horrible by any means. They just weren't something you'd order from a restaurant.

I grabbed the plate that had the two Pancakes on them and grabbed my bunny sized cup of coffee from the coffee maker that the Homeatron was also linked to.

As I began eating my breakfast, I turned on my Holovision and tuned into the local news station to catch the traffic report.

"Now, here's Jim with the traffic report" said the news anchor, which was a snow leopardess.

Immediately, the camera cut out to reveal the traffic report being hosted by Jim, a caribou. The caribou then said, "Thanks Jessie. Traffic seems to be flowing at an even and steady pace across the surface streets throughout most of the city, with only one reported accident in TundraTown caused by an overturned city bus. Systems Authority Officers are already on the scene redirecting traffic and we have no reports of any fatalities but there are some reported injuries. In the Sky Lanes above the districts, traffic is moving perfectly normal with the repulsor-lift vehicles having clear access across the city. The InterCity Skyways are clear leaving the city and entering the Sky Lanes with the only backup coming from a stalled Semi-Truck that is blocking the left lane of the southbound SkyWay. Mammals and aliens alike should have no issue going to where they need to on this beautiful Monday morning. Now, back to you Jessie."

I then turned the Holovision off and sighed with relief knowing that my commute to the Systems Authority Station took me nowhere near TundraTown.

I finished my breakfast and went back to my bedroom and changed into my Officers uniform. I was thankful that I was assigned to the Systems Authority Terrestrial Division and as such was assigned to the greatest city in the Zootopia Federation, the city of Zootopia itself. Most of my thanks came from not being posted in a station orbiting Earth and having to help patrol Earth space. The Space Division was a lot more dangerous as those Officers had to deal with covering 30 million meters of space surrounding Earth. Even with the frame shift drives that allowed ships to traverse space at speeds exceeding even light itself, it was still a lot of area to cover because in addition to marked checkpoints that were supposed to be the correct way of passing security to get to Earth, Officers had to deal with another issue.

Sometimes ships would try to bypass security screenings by just flying down to Earth. Most of the time, these ships got interdicted and stopped by the Systems Authority, but rather more often than not, those that got stopped were either smugglers trying to bypass security screenings, or were pirates looking for a quick hit and run on trade ships past the security screenings. Either way, these two scenarios became dangerous cause they didn't want to be arrested and have their ships detained and would then engage Systems Authority Officer vessels in combat.

Still, there was one thing that made it even more dangerous than that.

If the horrifying scenario of planetary invasion of the Federation's home world became a reality, it was up to the Systems Authority Fleets and orbital stations to push back the invading forces fleets until the Federal Navy arrives.

The former dangerous situation rarely had any causality, but the latter…

There was no telling how many of my fellow officers could die protecting us here on Earth.

As I finished putting on my uniform, which consisted of my light blue police uniform with my dark blue combat vest, I took a look in the mirror hanging from next to my dresser. I was completely ready for yet another day on the force. I then grabbed my tranquilizer gun and my Authority Officer issued laser pistol.

It may seem weird for an officer of Zootopia to be carrying two weapons, especially a lethal fire arm included. However, the laser pistol was meant for use against body armor and metal targets, mainly Suitrox Bio-Mechanical suits and the metallic frame and inner machinery of a Tramaggadon. I gazed over my sleep looking laser pistol with its sloped back design and black metallic sheen. I then put both weapons in the two holsters, my traq gun on my right hit and laser pistol on my left hip. Since I was right pawed, I kept my traq gun on my right hip since it was more instinctive for me to react to grab it than my laser pistol on my left holster, it prevented me from accidentally firing a lethal shot for a no-lethal situation.

I left my bedroom and opened the door to my apartment and then said, "Engage locks on door."

I closed my dull metal apartment door only to hear a locking click and a hiss as the door was secured.

I left my building and got into my silver sedan and started the fusion engine. I pulled out onto the road as soon as there was a break in traffic and made my way to the station. After 30 minutes of uneventful driving, I pulled into the precinct lot and shut the engine off. I opened the door and got out and turned my head towards the precinct front doors to see a very familiar friend of mine by the front doors. He wasn't a mammal however, but something rather uncommon to see in Zootopia.

An alien.

My friend was Tu'ulok, a Voretox I had known since coming to Zootopia to live my dream job of an officer.

Tu'ulok had light green skin instead of the usual tan skin that most Voretox had. He was about 5'10", which was the average height of a male Voretox, which made him tower over my short 3'3" stature. His face had the usual features of his race. No nose, but rather just two nostrils where a nose should be. No hair or fur anywhere on his head, or even his body. He also had an interior ear structure like that of a lizard, and two feline shaped eyes that were orange in color with no noticeable pupil, with eyelids that closed to meet vertically unlike mammals that closed to meet horizontally.

It was a shame that there weren't many Voretox in the city, let alone aliens in general. However, it made sense why when I really think about it. Mammals are a new collection of species to enter the galactic community which, according to my friend Tu'ulok, has previously been encompassed of only the six alien races: The Corgent, the Vicron, the Suitrox, the Voretox, the Tramagadons, and the Terraphim, for the past 3,000 years. Most aliens were still a little untrusting of mammals, almost to the level that some prey still doesn't fully trust predators. Most aliens see us as newcomers to the galaxy who have yet to prove of our worth and trust to the galactic community, and view us with the potential to disrupt the balance of power that has kept the six races at relative peace with one another for the last 3,000 years. As such, the Zootopia Federation doesn't see too much immigration by the alien races, even though we claim territory to 8 percent of the galaxy. To mammals who don't know the scope of the Federation's territory, it doesn't sound like much, but that 8 percent has over 72 billion of the 900 billion stars in the galaxy and has 576 billion planets, with a vast portion of them still unexplored. Hopefully, one day, we will not only see more aliens in the Federation, but may even be truly accepted as a true member of galactic society.

I began talking towards the station and when I got closer to Tu'ulok, I called out saying, "Hey Tu, what are you doing here?" 'Tu' was my nick name I had given him as his name was a little annoying to say all the time, so we agreed that I can just shorten it to Tu.

Tu'ulok looked up from the holographic smart watch that he had on his right wrist and looked at me for a couple of moments before a smile spread across his face.

He then started to walk down the steps that led to the Precinct towards me and then spoke up with a fairly light voice, "Ah, you're here Judy. I was wondering if I was going to have time to catch you before your shift began." His accent, which sounded exceptionally foreign and alien to me, made it hard to sometimes understand what he was saying.

I cocked my head slightly and asked, "Catch me for what?"

Tu'ulok came up to me and stopped in front of me and said, "To ask you if we're still on for meeting up for breakfast on your break. You know it's been a while since we got to hang out with one another."

I nodded and said, "Yeah, well normally I have every Thursday and every other Saturday off, but the Chief needed some extra mammal power to help with a drug trafficking case. I've been working the last two weeks straight, and I know that we haven't done anything together in a week prior to that…"

Tu'ulok held up his right hand with his three fingers and thumb out in a signal of "stop."

I gazed at him as he then spoke up, "Don't worry Judy. I know you have a very difficult job. So, we still good for that breakfast?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, it'll be good to hang out with an old friend. I mean after all, we've known each other for the last three years."

He nodded and said, "Splendid. Well, I'll see you at 10:30 then."

I then saw him start to walk past me down the steps but I stopped him and said, "You know, you could have just texted or called me on my phone, right?"

He shrugged as his eyes blinked vertically and said, "Yeah, but I'm off from work today, so I really have nothing better to do."

I chuckled as I said, "Okay, fair enough."

I turned my eyes towards the building across the street where a big holovision screen was mounted on a clock tower and my eyed bugged out at reading the time being shown on the screen.

6:25 A.M.

I only had 5 minutes left to get to the bullpen.

"Hey Tu, I gotta run. I have only 5 minutes" I said.

"Gotcha" he said as we parted ways.

I sprinted towards the door to the precinct and heard Tu say, "Judy, wait. You dropped your pen."

I spun around and then saw him lift his hand out towards the pen as my pen started to levitate off the ground towards me.

I held my paw out and the pen dropped gently into my open paw. I then shouted, " thanks."

I was grateful…and amazed.

I was grateful that Tu was able to spot my carrot pen and return it to me before my shift began. My recorder pen was as much a part of my uniform as my combat vest and weapons were. Never know when you might need to record a confession I thought.

However, as I ran into the Precinct, I was still amazed at one of the things that separated Tu's kind, the Voretox, from all us mammals… a rather really big thing.

The Voretox and the Terraphim both possessed a natural gift of telekinesis. The Terraphims wasn't as capable as what the Voretox have been able to demonstrate with their telekinesis. Voretox soldiers and some other Voretox have been able to do remarkable things with their natural talent such as generating telekinetic barriers to deflect bullets, lasers, plasma and other stuff, or in other cases so finely tune their ability to be able to rip apart matter at the subatomic level. In the case of some extremely powerful individuals, they can even harness their talent to read other creatures thoughts.

I heard of the talent that both species possessed, but even still after Tu'ulok demonstrating this gift to me the first time, I'm still amazed and captivated by it. Tu's telekinesis was rather average, or maybe even somewhat below average.

I ran past the front desk and shouted, "Hi Clawhauser, bye Clawhauser."

The cheetah behind the reception desk was distracted with some app on his phone playing Gazelle music to really pay attention. He just said to me, "Hi Judy…"

He then went back to his phone. I laughed inwardly at my fellow officer's obsession with Gazelle.

I found it shocking that not only mammals had a fascination with music, but also some of the alien races did as well. Gazelle had a number of Voretox and Suitrox fans that spanned even into these two races' territories themselves.

As I kept running towards the bullpen, a quick thought popped in my head, which wasn't the first time this thought had ever occurred to me.

Being the fact that I'm 24 years old and even that I am a Systems Authority Officer, I was still relatively unfamiliar with most of the cultures having to do with the alien races, with the Voretox being a quazi-exception as my Voretox friend had informed me on many of the Voretox traditions and customs. What bothered me even more was that I have never been off of Earth or even outside of our Federation before.

Since I was a kid, I always thought that in the Zootopia Federation, anyone can be anything they want to be: an astronaut, a lawyer, an accountant, a teacher…even a rabbit can be a Systems Authority Officer, even more the first of her species to do it. This was true, but I found out after joining the force that the Zootopia Federation isn't the perfect place that I thought it was. There was speciesism, sexism, and xenophobia that reared its ugly head to threaten our Federation and our civilization that has stood all the way until now in 3302. My achievement of becoming an officer both shocked many mammals and even the two aliens that lived in BunnyBurrow when I was growing up, and brought concern to some other mammals that I knew, mainly my parents.

However, I was always fascinated with what lied beyond in the stars. I mean, I know we aren't alone out there, but these other species have existed for easily a thousand years before mammals relinquished our primitive savage ways and joined in relative peace and harmony. That would put the oldest civilizations of the Suitrox and the Vicron to be over 8,000 years old with 2,000 of those years being before they were space faring. I mean, these races have existed in relative peace with one another for 3,000 years and are centuries more advanced than we are. Surely, these aliens must get along with one another if they are that advanced. However, all this thinking brought me back to the meaning of my thought: I wanted to just buy a ship and explore the Black, to see all the culture, art, technology, and awe inspiring sights of the galaxy.

I let out a heavy sigh however and not just that I had only a minute left to get to the bullpen, but that this dream of mine would never come to fruition. I knew that when I took the call of duty as a Systems Authority Officer, some of my freedoms would be restricted by my job. My realizations that this dream was dashed by my other dream to be an officer, which was not only ironic, but it made my heart fill with disappointment and sadness.

(20 minutes later)

I had just received my assignment for the day from Chief Bogo, which was to patrol Savanna Central for any suspicious and criminal activity. The morning went by with little excitement as I was patrolling in my repulsor lift Authority Cruiser. Finally, 10:30 rolled around and I was truly relieved to be able to have my hour break not only to have breakfast with Tu'ulok, but to also to find some relief from this boring morning.

I was coming down Acadia Avenue towards where we had agreed to meet for breakfast and saw the restaurant we were going to.

The glass windowed façade of the restaurant reflected the light of the sun into my eyes for a few seconds before being blocked by a line of trees, and a Python frigate being launched from a nearby spaceport. It was the Savanna Escape, a well-known eatery in the city that catered to Predator, Prey and had recently run an advertising campaign for new cultural and traditional dishes for aliens.

It was one of the very few restaurants in the city to service aliens and mammals in any fashion as the demand for serving aliens wasn't high since aliens only made up almost 1 percent of the population of the city of Zootopia.

I pulled into the parking lot and powered off the 8 celled fusion engine that gave my cruiser some real kick to it.

I walked inside and my sensitive nose was hit by an aura of aromas, both familiar and questionable. I walked towards the hostess, a lioness, who was standing behind the podium. She was dressed in her work uniform and when I approached her she looked down at me and smiled, flashing her incisors.

"Hello Officer, seating for one mammal" she said with a cheerful tone.

I smiled back and said, "No, miss. I need a table for two, if my guest hasn't already arrived."

She then said, "Ah, and what was their name and species? Rabbit, I take it?"

I then shook my head and replied, "No, it would be a mister Tu'ulok."

Upon me saying her smile dropped immediately and she gave me a blank stare as of shock. I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow saying, "Is something wrong, miss?"

She then replied shaking her head, "No…"

She then dropped her voice and said, "Are you dining with an…alien?"

I then gave her a frustrated and perplexed stare as I then said with my arms crossed, "Is that a problem?" My foot then began to tap at a furious speed.

She was starting to sweat a bit under her fur I could tell, as she then said, "Not at all officer, but…is your 'guest' by any chance a…Vicron."

I felt myself get even madder as I then stared her dead in the eyes and said, "No, he's a Voretox."

She breathed out a sigh of relief as she then said, "Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid he was a Vicron. They are nothing but trouble."

Since I didn't know anything about Vicron, I was really curious by her remark, "But I thought you guys started serving aliens here too. Besides, what could be so bad about Vicrons?

She then said, "Well, Vicron are creatures that aren't merciful and feel no emotion towards anyone, not even each other. Also, they have been known to eat mammals if they get the opportunity to, and are just plain ugly to look at."

I was about to ask her a question, when I was then nudged from behind. I looked behind me to see a Honey Badger then say, "Come on, rabbit. You're holding up the line."

Indeed, behind me was a line of mammals waiting to be seated. I felt like verbally ripping into the Honey Badger for disrespecting an Authority Officer, but I didn't want to hold mammals up and cause a scene.

The Hostess then said, "Officer, if you'll follow me, I'll get you seated and your Voretox friend when he arrives."

She then led me over to a booth in a corner that would easily seat me and Tu.

She gave me my menu and said, "Your server will be with you in a few minutes."

I turned my eyes towards the menu that they had and noticed printed on the front were three words that were bolded and underlined.

 **Mammal Menu: Prey**

The three words didn't really surprise me that much as it was to clearly designate whom the menu was catered to.

About two minutes passed and I heard a set of footsteps approach me and I looked up to see Tu'ulok coming over to our booth. When our eyes made contact, he smiled at me and I waved back at him with a slight smirk.

He sat down across from me and the hostess gave him his menu that had a different set of words printed on the front of it in bolded and underlined wording.

 **Alien Menu: Voretox**

I was impressed on how they had menus dedicated to serving each type of palette.

Tu'ulok then said, "Hey Judy, how's your shift today been?"

I glanced over my menu at him and replied, "Fine, it's been a very quiet day. Actually, I'm quite surprised by it."

Tu then nodded and said, "Yeah, well you sure earned it my friend. I mean working for 2 weeks straight? You deserve an easy day."

I went back to looking at my menu, and replied with a chuckle, "heh, yeah. Well, I'm hoping it stays that way today."

There was a little bit of a pause between the two of us, which was broken by Tu'ulok saying, "So, what are you thinking of getting Judy?"

I scanned the menu a bit more and found my choice, which seemed quite appetizing to me. "I was going to have the blueberry pancakes with a side of hash browns and some sliced fruit."

I then gazed at Tu'ulok and asked, "What are you getting?"

He then scratched his chin with his right hand and said, "I was thinking of having the Atamulok."

My curiosity peaked at what he had said and I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "And that is...?"

He then chuckled and said, "I'm sorry Judy. I should have realized that you wouldn't really know what that was."

Tu then set his menu down on the table and said, "It's a favorite breakfast dish of mine. It's a traditional Voretox dish that has fried Gazmilc eggs seasoned with a few spices that are grown on our home world, and the eggs also have some Blog Rat meat mixed in. I was also thinking of having Viluc Toast with it."

I gave him a slightly nervous and yet still curious look as he waited for me to respond, but he then quickly added in, "Judy, it's basically your cultures equivalent of seasoned fried eggs. While I know you guys don't eat meat other than fish and insects in your culture, it has meat from a small animal on our home world in it."

He then sighed and said, "Also, I know in your culture it is considered taboo to eat non-fish and insect meat. However, please don't be afraid of my…taste Judy. I would never consider hurting you or any other mammal here to just…well, you know. My people are omnivores, but we aren't savages."

I let out a sigh of relief, which caused Tu to relax as well. I then chuckled and said, "Well, at least you're a Voretox and not a Vicron."

To this Tu suddenly got a blank expression and then said in a flat tone, "and that would mater why?"

I could tell that Tu's response wasn't just driven by confusion, but by something else I couldn't quite put my paw on.

"Tu, you do know that Vicron are emotionless creatures that have been known to eat mammals right" I said to him?

He gave me a blank stare and I could see the irritation build in his face. I was beginning to think that I had hit a sour spot with my comment.

"There's more to it than that, isn't there" I asked?

Tu then sighed and said with clear frustration in his voice, "If it wasn't for the fact that I know you have never been around Vicron and have never been exposed to their…culture, I would have just left this booth right now."

He then leaned towards me and said, "Judy, that is not only far from the truth, it isn't even close to anything true. Who in the God's names told you that pile of garbage?"

I then sheepishly said, "The hostess who works here."

Tu then rolled his eyes and said, "Of course, lies spread by mammals who don't know the truth."

He then said, "Judy, "I'm going to let you in on a bit of a crash course on Vicron. First, they are not emotionless. They have just as much feelings and personality as you or I do. It is however, their culture that puts out that aura towards those around them. The Vicron are a collective species, where the rights of the many are sacrificed for the progress of the 1 collective. It's been their government for the last 500 years, and while not everyone likes it, they are forced to endure it. This has led to many Vicrons being called "Emotionless" when bad things happen to their kind in the Collective because they know it is just how their society is now run, so they don't fight it, oppose it or anything. They just accept it and go with the flow. On a personal level however, a Vicron can be a great friend if you are comfortable with their insectoid appearance, and they are exceptionally loyal to those they care about. Second, Vicron are strictly a carnivorous species and unfortunately, an event that occurred in Vicron Collective space has branded them with this stereotype. A Vicron freighter suffered reactor plant failure and was stranded in space for a few days awaiting rescue. They were transporting cargo, cargo which was mammal meat. They were transporting it not to sell it as food somewhere, but to sell it to a research lab that was working on a way to be able to regrow lost limbs for mammals, you know to replace a limb if a mammal suffered an injury. It was a joint project between a Vicron research facility and a Zootopia Federation medical corporation. Anyways, when rescue was delayed by a few more days, the crew was forced to eat the mammal flesh to be able to survive until rescue. Even though this whole situation was well documented and well explained in GalNet news, apparently some narrow minded _Dumvitets_ don't get it."

Tu then slinked back into his seat and said, "I'm sorry Judy, I shouldn't be cussing. However, xenophobic stereotypes make me so angry."

I just nodded whole heartedly understanding and said, "No, its fine Tu. I'm…just glad you opened my eyes to the Vicron people."

Tu's smile returned just as our server had come to take our orders. Our server was actually another alien, which surprised me not in the fact that an alien surprised me, but our server was a Vicron. I felt relief wash over me that the Vicron wasn't here for our little conversation.

"Hello, you two. What can I get for you today" spoke the Vicron in what sounded like a female voice.

Our Vicron server gave me a good idea as what her species looked like. She had four insect shaped legs coming out of her abdomen that then had her thorax, which looked more like the shape of a mammalian torso than a thorax, coming out at a vertical posture giving her upright position to her. She had four arms that came out of her torso, two on each side. The two bottom arms had what looked like clawed pincers to them, which seemed to be for grasping and holding things, as she was doing with her holographic tablet she would take our order on. Her two upper arms ended in a sharp point to them, which made them look like they would be used for stabbing things, but the sharp point tucked in under her forearms. Her head was shaped more similarly to the shape of Tu's head, more rounded, but her mouth was instead a pair of pinching mandibles and she had two eyes that were green, but what drew my real attention was that they were compound eyes, not eyes like what mammals had. The green stood out sharply from her dull orange-ish skin color.

Tu then said, "Yes, miss. I'll have the Atamulok with a side of Viluc toast."

She then tapped her tablet screen and made a few swipes and taps with her folded in left top arm.

"Alright, and for you Officer" she said?

I then said, "Yeah, I'll have the blueberry pancakes with a side of hash browns and diced fruit."

She made more swipes and taps with her pad and then said, "Alright, it shouldn't be more than 20 minutes. Can I get you something to drink? It seems our hostess forgot to start you with some drinks today."

 _Yeah, forgot that and forgot how to not be a narrow minded stereotypical little bitch_ I thought.

Tu'ulok then said, "You go first Judy."

I then said, "I'll have a glass of carrot juice with ice please."

Tu then said, "I'll actually be daring today. I'm going to try some of that Orange Juice that seems to be a popular mammal choice for breakfast."

Both the Vicron and I looked at him with a curious gaze. I heard the Vicron make some clicking noises with her mandibles as she then said, "Are you sure, sir?"

Tu'ulok then said, "Yeah, it won't hurt me. I'm not dextro-amino acid like the Terraphim and the Corgent are."

She nodded and said "Very well then."

She then turned to walk away, all four of her legs scurrying in rapid succession to move her towards the kitchen.

Tu'ulok then turned to me and smirked saying, "So, what do you think of your first encounter with a Vicron?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "About as surprised as when I saw my first Voretox."

He then said, "You mean me, right?"

"Actually, no. We had two Voretox who were living in my hometown of BunnyBurrow" I said to my friend.

"Really, I'm surprised how well my people get around" he said with a chuckle.

I giggled at his response, "Yeah, it is I guess."

Later, our food had arrived, and mine looked as suspected. Tu'ulok's however was quite…different looking. His egg dish was different in that the eggs were a reddish tint to them, with some brown chunks of meat in the eggs. The sight of cooked animal meat made me slightly gag, but I contained myself out of respect for Tu. His toast was a dark brown with a yellow crust to the slices.

Tu was glancing at my food and I could see that he was giving it some questionable glances, albeit nowhere near to what I was with his food. I mean his had…animal meat in it.

We then began eating and were engaging in small talk with one another about things like work, which Tu explained some things that happened to him recently with his job working in the Zootopia water purification plant such as troubles with his boss and that stuff. In addition we talked about good movies we've seen lately and other small talk.

When we were about finished, I suddenly got a call over my channel on my Authority Officer Wrist mounted holographic computer. The orange holographic screen lit up and a voice belonging to my fellow officer Clawhauser came on saying, "All Savanna Central Units, we have a crime in progress. Ship detained at the Umbrella Spaceport for suspected smuggling crimes. Spaceport security has restrained the smuggler, but Systems Authority Officers are needed to handle the area and proceedings. Any available officers in the area please respond if you can handle the crime scene. Over."

I then picked up my wrist towards my mouth and said, "Officer Hopps responding to request for Authority Officer Backup at crime scene. I'm making my way over there now. How copy? Over."

Clawhauser then said, "Solid Copy, Officer Hopps. I have another unit reporting in saying they'll meet you at the Spaceport."

"Rodger, over and out" I said.

I dropped my wrist and sighed heavily. "So much for that easy day" I said to myself.

Tu then said, "Don't worry about it Judy, I understand. You have a job to do. I'll pay for us."

I then sheepishly looked at Tu and then said, "You sure? I feel bad you having to do that."

He then held up a hand and said, "It's no trouble, but can you do me a favor?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, sure. What is it Tu'ulok?"

He then smiled and said, "Keep yourself safe, Judy."

I felt a friendly smile spread on my muzzle as I then said, "I plan on it, my friend."

I stood up to leave the restaurant and walked past the lioness hostess from earlier and silently shot her a glare of anger for earlier.

I walked out and said, "I'm on my way right now, Clawhauser. Can you give me a description of the suspect? Over."

Clawhausers voice then replied, "Spaceport security said that the suspect is an orange-reddish fox of average height and he has a record on file."

"His name is Nick Wilde."

 **(A/N: There we have it, the end of chapter one of Starbound Conspiracy. I know it might have been a long and confusing chapter for some, or maybe many of you. I wanted to make sure I took the time to flush out the universe I have blended together here from Zootopia, Elite: Dangerous, and my own personal sci-fi series I am working on. In case you all are wondering, yes the aliens mentioned in here are all of my original idea and design with their own governments, cultures, militaries, histories and religions. None of my aliens and OC's may be used for any other story without explicit permission from me before doing so. I am sorry if it seems like I focused more on aliens at the end of this chapter. I just wanted to present the social problems that both the mammals of the Zootopia (Federation) and the alien races have been facing in the universe, such as stereotypes, discrimination, and cultural taboos. I promise that after the next few chapters, the focus will go more back towards the characters of Zootopia, with a lesser, but still visible and immersive mention and usage of the Elite: Dangerous universe and my own sci-fi series.**

 **Now comes the important news. Because of how much I want this story to be good and be interesting, yet approachable by fans of Elite: Dangerous and Zootopia while still including my own alien races, updates for this story will be random and will not be set at determined times. I want to ensure that all the time needed to make it a presentable and immersive story has been met. I will not be shooting for writing perfection as grammar has never been my strong suit. If you wish to continue reading as soon as new updates come out, then I would strongly recommend following and/or adding this story to your favorites. While I am not expecting a story like this to draw whole heap loads of attention on this fandom, I'm hoping to at least get some constructive feedback as to what needs to be improved or fixed. Feel free to also leave a review if you just want to say that you like the story, or whatever you want to leave that is not full out flaming of the story. I'm happy to respond to questions or comments having to do with my own sci-fi series as there is not exactly a wikia for it online, just be aware however that my series is still a work in progress and as such may have some things be changed in it for a good reason, or purely for aesthetics. Also, for those of you thinking that there may be some chemistry between Judy and Tu'ulok, I will assure you that future information will assure you on whether or not that may or not be the case. Lastly, if any of you caught the reference to Dextro-Amino Acid, then props to you for that. If you don't understand what it means, then just go online and type up 'Mass Effect Dextro-Amino Acid' and you'll probably find all you need on it.**

 **Until next time, stay creative and safe my fellow readers and writers. Also, if you play Elite: Dangerous, then see you in the Black, Commanders.)**


	3. Sly Smuggler, Dumb Officer

**Chapter 2: Sly Smuggler, Dumb Officer**

 **(A/N: Alright my fellow readers and writers, I am happy to finally bring you the next chapter of Zootopia: Starbound Conspiracy. I apologize horribly for the late update as it took me a few weeks to get around to writing the next chapter. Due to a combination of laziness and work, I kept putting off the next chapter, but I realized that it's not fair to you readers and me as well. I know there are a bunch of you who want to see how this story unfolds and I was to desperately see this thing through to the end, and so here is the next chapter started a few weeks late. I have no excuse and no reason beyond the before mentioned issues, and for that I apologize. This chapter will also see the introduction of a new alien race as well. In addition I noticed that one reviewer asked if humans would appear in this story. The short answer is no. However the long answer is that they will appear in a future story of mine, a slightly more unique take on the 'Human in Zootopia' concept.**

 **I will not normally do authors notes in the beginning of the chapters, but I felt it fitting to apologize for the late update.**

 **Now on with the story.)**

As I opened the door of my repulsor lift police cruiser, preparing to get in, I felt myself stop and stand with my left arm resting against the open door of the police cruiser as I became lost in a thought I had.

 _Why did Clawhauser say that this Nick Wilde character was detained on only suspicions of smuggling crimes_ I thought?

This brought a few questions to mind.

 _Why had he been detained when detainment at space ports were reserved for confirmed smugglers, stowaways, and undocumented arrivals to Zootopia?_

 _What had this suspect been smuggling that couldn't implicate him for smuggling crimes on the spot?_

The first question was hard to answer. While I had dealt with smuggling crimes in the past, they all went the same route of process: Ship gets stopped, ship gets scanned, illegal cargo gets found, perp gets detained, Systems Authority Officers show up to arrest perp and investigate the scene. The fact that this was my 15th smuggling crime I've dealt with and only now has something different happened in the usual process was what got me thinking that this had to be something quite…unusual.

The second was just as hard to explain. Most goods that enter Zootopia via space ports were either legal or illegal goods. The only exception to this category is stolen cargo usually acquired by pirates. All cargo containers that are bought at trading posts and stations are pinged with a property rights transponder. This transponder is then scanned either by a cargo scanner used by a ship outfitted with it, or it is scanned at the star port the container is being dropped off at to verify it as purchased by the ship's crew and thus the credits can be exchanged in the proper legal channels. These transponders have top notch encryption, but a few knowledgeable pirate crews have been able to overwrite the property rights ID that the transponder emits and as such make the cargo 'legally' theirs.

However, since this guy was a smuggler, there's no real chance its stolen goods.

I sighed and climbed into the cruiser as I pressed a button on the steering wheel that closed the open driver's door automatically. I started up the cruiser and then thought, _Well, I guess that's why Systems Authority is responding. It's our job to investigate this. I guess I'll be able to have my answers when I get there._

I fired up the cruisers fusion engine and pulled out of the parking lot and began making my way to the space port.

I continued my drive that would take me halfway across Savanna Central, making my way through busy streets and avenues. The unfortunate timing of my response to this situation meant that I was now driving at the beginning of lunch rush in Zootopia. I soon found myself stuck behind a long traffic light that had several vehicles of various makes and colors in front of me. I waited in traffic for about a few minutes as the light was still red. I groaned and gently knocked my head on the steering wheel as I really wished that this was a crime I could 'run hot' to, but the perp was already detained by spaceport security and as such the situation was under control. I just wanted to make my way there and avoid all this damn traffic. However, I was never one for breaking the rules, even before my involvement in the Systems Authority. I really wished that I could have had my easy day that Tu said I so rightfully deserved, and it bothered me that Tu's only day off this week was partially ruined by this case I had to respond to. I mentally shrugged as I realized that both he and I knew that this was just a part of my career, never knowing when you might be called to respond to any crime in progress.

My thoughts were brought back to the situation at hand as the light turned green and I proceeded with traffic towards my destination. After about 20 grueling minutes, which should have only taken 10 if traffic wasn't so congested, I finally arrived at the spaceport. I pulled up towards a parking space towards the front of the structure and powered off my cruiser.

I got out of my cruiser and locked it up, and then began walking towards the Spaceports main entrance. As I was a ways away from the Spaceport, I took notice of how simply massive the structure was.

Umbrella Spaceport was a three storied structure with a main structure that was circular in floor plan and the building after the third floor curved upwards on all sides to form the top half of a sphere. Beyond the three floored structure with its many translucent windows that reflected both the surrounding parking lot and the sun very brilliantly, there was another structure of similar design that connected to the first via a long interior walkway. However, the second structure had multiple branching extensions coming off of it that were two storied rectangular buildings that contained the ship maintenance bays and the launch pads themselves. The whole collective structure was painted in a glossy white paint scheme with a red stripe running around the halfway point of the first floor.

I approached the entrance to the Spaceport and the automatic doors slid open to let me inside. The interior was a large open space just like the outside led me to believe with the two higher stories wrapping around the building's interior to create a central large atrium that caught my attention.

In the center was a large elliptical shaped desk area that had many Spaceport employees working inside the area, some typing on terminals, others were handling a line of visitors with a sigh hanging over that part of the counter, floating in mid-air saying, 'Spaceport Visitor Assistance and Customer Services'. Still a few others were dressed in grey uniforms carrying stun batons and a few different sized paw and hand cuffs. I assumed these guys to be the security for the Spaceport.

To my surprise, Umbrella Spaceport employed a very diverse staff of employees. There were a wide variety of Prey mammals ranging from a few bunnies, to armadillos and even an Elephant. There seemed to be fewer Predator mammals, but I spotted a Tiger, an Ocelot, and a Honey Badger. There was even an alien working at one of the terminals. This alien species was one that I hadn't seen too much of before as there was only ever one case I had in which one of the witnesses was one of their kind. The alien behind the terminal was a Suitrox. The alien was encased in one of their iconic bio-mechanical suits that were painted in different colors, with this Suitrox's suit a deep blue color. The layered metal plating, with its utilitarian edging and detail, coupled with its plasteel jointing and the light red singular 'eye', which was really a lens, gave it the modern alien design that made it stand out to me so much. Below the singular eye was a metal framed digital display that had a flat line that fluctuated with 'peeks' and 'valleys' on its display when it spoke.

I began heading towards the security staff to find out where our fox perp had been detained. I walked past the line of mammals and a couple aliens waiting for help from the Spaceport staff, and as I got towards the front I was overhearing part of a conversation between an Arctic Vixen and a Tiger who was one of the employees.

"What do you mean my family can't land here right now? Landing bay 5 is open and they're next in line for clearance. Why can't they land" the Arctic Vixen spoke with a clearly pissed off attitude to her?

The tiger sighed and said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "For the last time miss, landing bay 5 is not open. There was a situation that's had the bay closed down, and we aren't sure how long it will be before it will open again. Your family will just have to wait until another open bay is available."

The Vixen just threw her arms up in defeat and then said angrily, "Fine, and how long might that be?"

The tiger began to type at his terminal and said, "I'm not certain at this time, so you'll just have to wait until the Lakon Type-9 freighter in bay 3 is finished. They are the closest to finishing with their dealings here."

The vixen then said, "So you don't know?"

The tiger gave her a blank look after she said this and the Vixen then shouted in a defeated tone, "Fine, I'll go wait. Hopefully, it won't take forever."

She started to walk away and then the Suitrox employee said to his tiger co-worker when she was out of ear shot, "Well she definitely was a charming sort."

The tiger chuckled and said, "Yeah, stuck in a continuous loop of trying to explain that landing bay 5 was closed to her was really wearing on my patience."

The Suitrox then replied, "I hope not all Earth mammals are like that, I don't think I can handle this job for the next couple thousand years _. Kutrua_ , at this rate I'm not sure I can handle this job for the next few days."

The tiger smiled and said, "Oh, this job isn't always like that. Don't worry."

The conversation reminded me of one of the very few things I know about the Suitrox: They have a life expectancy of roughly 5,000 years. This is because the Suitrox are energy beings, which must explain their use of those bio-mechanical suits. Otherwise, they probably couldn't even properly handle manipulating mater around them.

However, my attention was turned back towards the security guards as I got closer to them. I approached two guards that were leaning against the side of a wall casually, discussing something with each other. The right guard, a grizzly bear, also had a single red stripe going down the topside of the sleeves and the front portion of his uniform.

I introduced myself to them and said, "Hey there, Systems Authority Officer Judy Hopps. I was wondering if you could point me to the head of security here."

The grizzly bear stopped talking mid-sentence and looked around for the voice that was speaking to him. I then chimed in, "uh, down here sir."

The bear and his fellow security guard, a jackal, looked down and noticed me as I somewhat uncomfortably waved hi to them.

The bear then spoke to me and said, "Your looking at him officer, I take it you're here for the smuggler."

I then nodded and said, "Yeah, I got a call from my dispatcher saying that you already detained him."

The bear then grew an uncertain look upon his face, as did the jackal. The jackal said, "Well, not…exactly."

I felt my ears flop down behind my back as I then froze for a second before cautiously and curiously saying, "um…define 'not exactly'? My dispatcher said that you guys had detained him on suspected smuggling charges."

The bear said scratching the back of his furry neck nervously, "We did…at first. But he was able to present the proper license for carrying the type of cargo that he was. The only problem is that we are still very skeptical that his papers are legit, considering he was carrying progenitor cells."

I then shot him a blank expression as I then said, "But progenitor cells are a class 4 medical product, those aren't illegal, unless he was carrying more than 20 tons of the product."

"Carrying 20 tons of the product" also said the bear, echoing my last part of my sentence.

"Yeah, that's what made us skeptical. His papers said he has clearance from ExoAmp Corp. to be shipping the product in that high a bulk" he said. He then added saying, "That's why we called this in to your Systems Authority precinct; we needed an officer to verify the documents are legit and if they aren't, to arrest him."

I then sighed rubbed my temples with my paws as I groaned quietly, "it couldn't be your standard smuggling case, could it."

I then breathed in deep and said, "Alright, take me to him and the evidence."

The two security guards stood up from the wall and the security chief said, "Of course. This way officer."

I followed the guards to through a sliding metal door with a sign over it that said, "Security Wing", down a series of corridors and soon arrived at the detainment cells within the Security Wing. The guards took me to my suspect. We stopped outside the cell and I could see a canine shaped figure silhouetted by the darkness as he was lying down on a bench in his cell.

The security guard opened the cell door and he gestured me inside. I stepped inside the cell and then my suspect spoke to me saying, "Well, if it isn't Systems Authority Officer Judy Hopps. I'm surprised they sent someone of your notoriety to this little misunderstanding." The fox spoke to me with a suave and slightly smug voice.

I froze as I asked with a hint of surprise in my voice, "You know who I am?"

The fox chuckled and sat up on the bench and said, "Everyone knows who you are officer. You're the first rabbit to join the Zootopia Federation Systems Authority and the valedictorian of her class."

I brushed off what he was saying, at the same time as his smug voice was getting on my nerves a little bit.

"Alright buddy, tell me why you were trying to deliver so many progenitor cells" I said while I pulled out my carrot recorder pen and my Authority Officer's tablet. I discretely hit the record button on my carrot pen as I prepared to interview my criminal.

The fox stayed silhouetted in the shadows of darkness as he began his explanation.

"What's there to explain officer? I have legitimate authorization from ExoAmp Corp. to deliver the product in as high volume as I did. Besides, I thought that class 4 medical products were exempt from the 20 ton restriction law if one has authorization from the Zootopian Federal Board of Commerce" he said with a sly and smug tone to him that only began to grow slightly more irritating to me.

I found myself in a state of shock as my carrot pen stopped electronically writing on my tablet. My eyes went wide as I felt a question begin to sting my mind with a shocking revelation.

How did this smuggler know so much about commerce laws in the Zootopia Federation I thought to myself. In all the smuggling cases I've dealt with in my time with the Systems Authority, as well as heard from my fellow officers, I've rarely ever seen or heard of a smuggler with such knowledge of the legal system.

I then said to him, "How exactly do you know so much about the commerce laws of the Federation?"

He then chuckled and said, "Oh that really hurts officer. What would make the first rabbit officer think so suspiciously of little old Nick? Could it just be that I would never handle illegal cargo on a delivery job? Wait, why yes. Yes it is that."

I could feel my paw holding my pen tighten sharply on the writing implement as my knuckles subtlety cracked from the tension. This fox was starting to tick me off, but I had to try to retain my composure, especially since I was also recording audio of the whole exchange.

I then, with a hint of irritation and a desire to finish this whole deal, then said, "Alright then slick Nick. Where are your papers then if this is a legal job?"

The bear behind me standing outside the cell, right in front of the open door trying to subtly block the foxes only escape route, spoke and said, "Actually Officer Hopps, we have his papers. We confiscated them as potential evidence."

I then turned to the bear and said, "I'd like to see the papers then."

The bear let me leave the cell before closing and locking the sliding electronic door. He took me towards a table and a few chairs in the center of the detainment cell room and presented me with the fox's documents.

My eyes scanned them for any flaw or misprint that would indicate that these were forged. However, the more I looked at it, the more I could tell that it was legit…at least in the sense that it had all of the proper identification and legal jargon to make it legal. I was still very doubtful that this was a real actual set of documents, but the information stored on the holographic document tablet prevented me from taking him in under any breach of the law.

I then heard a voice say, "Face it Carrots, you got nothing on me."

I then snapped around and gave him a very stern and somewhat icy glare, "You're going to want to refrain from calling me 'Carrots'" I said to him.

I then asked him my last question, "Before I go one last question. Who were you selling progenitor cells to?"

He then said, "Why they were only going to go to various mammals that had ordered them. You'll find their names listed on the delivery information on the crates."

I then sighed that I had finally finished what I had to do with this smug jerk. "Alright, we're done Mr. Wilde. I'm just going to run some checks on the information you have given me and you'll be free to go if it all comes back clear."

Nick then said, "I look forward to it Officer."

I wrapped up my final proceedings with the security personal and left the spaceport to return to my cruiser. I opened the door and climbed into the driver's seat of my cruiser and started the engine. I laid back in my seat and sighed with relief, staring out the driver window that I was finished with that smug jerk.

While I was irritated by his behavior, I couldn't help but somehow be curious as to why he was so knowledgeable about the law, and had actually managed to get his paws on over 40 tons of progenitor cells. I decided with a smug grin that maybe it's time I learned more about Mr. Nick Wilde and his past. I backed the cruiser out of the space I was in and began my drive to precinct one to see what I could turn up in this little investigation.

 **(A/N: Well, let me know what you guys think about the latest chapter that I am once again so sorry that it took as long as it did for an update. I got distracted by things at work and several new video games I started playing such as The Solus Project, Kerbal Space Program and Rebel Galaxy. As a reminder, I am open to both praise and constructive criticism. Also, due to the fact that I want to start a new story, the next update will come out after I release the first chapter for my new story Zootopia: Project Paradox. Expect that first chapter to come out next week and the next chapter for this story to come out the week or two after that. I also apologize if the quality of this chapter suffered at all. I will try to increase the length and the quality in future chapters.**

 **Until next time, stay safe and creative my fellow readers and writers.)**

 **-SR2Turoka-1**


	4. The Brewing Shadow

Chapter 3: The Brewing Shadow

As I drove through Savanna Central back towards City Center to return to Precinct One, I had some time to think about my suspect of my latest case. It just didn't seem right with how this smuggler got his paws on such a massive quantity of Proginator Cells. The documents that were shown to me seemed legitimate, with them clearly showing who he was working for and that the delivery of a normally illegal quantity of a Class 4 medical product was authorized by the Federation Board of Commerce. The signatures from the Board were all there, showing that the documents had at one point crossed their eyes to be approved. I would have to run a check on the signer's names to make sure that they were indeed correct as I had perceived them to be. In the meanwhile, the bigger thing that didn't sit right is the name of Pharmaceutical Corporation that employed Mr. Wilde, provided that he was actually hired by them and not actually smuggling like both the spaceport security staff and I think he is.

ExoAmp Corp.

That name was so unfamiliar to me. While I indeed was not familiar with the vast amount of corporations that operated within the Zootopia Federation, I was certainly aware of the bigger ones that had a large stake in the business world within it. In order for the Board to approve a shipment of a restricted product, they would have most likely need to first be familiar with whom they're approving to begin with. Being able to find a clean background on the company and their buyers, contractors and suppliers would probably be the deciding factor. With that system however, the bigger corporations would be easier to track as they would have a longer standing record than any smaller newer start-ups, and would be easier for the Board to trust.

That would have to mean that ExoAmp is a bigger and more powerful company. I mentally sighed with relief as this would mean my current task of following up on the delivery documents would have to be easier as I would have to do less combing through our system to find proof on whether these documents, the shipment, ExoAmp and Nick were all legally operating or not.

I came to stop at an intersection and began to wait for the light to change to green. I quickly checked the time on the holographic radio display of my Systems Authority cruiser and noticed that it was almost 4:30 p.m.

Damn how fast time flies on the job I thought.

I wouldn't normally be against the day feeling like it was going by fast, but with the amount of investigative work and paperwork I would have to back at the Precinct, I could only groan softly as I knew this would keep me there way past the end of my shift.

Not only did my late breakfast with Tu'ulok get interrupted by this case, but now I'd have to stay well into the evening to both look further into it, and handle my paperwork.

The truth was that I didn't hate my job as a Systems Authority Officer. I actually rather loved it, but only the fieldwork part of it. The challenge of cracking a case, protecting those in danger from the baddies that lurked in the shadows of our Federation, the rewarding feeling of doing good in a noble profession…I loved all of it. The part I hated was all of the paperwork and combing databases for leads and clues, with the latter not annoying but rather time consuming.

Oh well I Thought, just another daily task on duty as an Officer.

I got my green light and eventually made my way back to the Precinct. Knowing that my work would keep me from my daily patrol, I first had to stop by Clawhauser and find out if another Officer could take over my patrol for the rest of the shift.

I entered through the huge front doors of the Precinct and slowly made my way over to where our resident cheetah dispatcher was.

One of my favorite things about coming into the Precinct every single day was getting to greet all of the familiar faces of my fellow officers. While I loved working with both my fellow officers and our detectives, one of my favorite mammals here was Clawhauser. He and I have become great friends over the time that I've worked here, and I love to talk with him when he wasn't absorbed into Gazelle music. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her music. The only problem was just how spaced out he gets when he gets drawn into anything Gazelle.

I walked over to his reception desk, a slight smile plastered on my muzzle as I went to greet him. He was currently coordinating a dispatch for two officers to search for someone in the Rainforest District, while he reached into a box of a dozen donuts and pulled out a honey glazed one.

"…That's right Officer Grizz. Suspect is a Zebra about five foot four wearing a dark hoodie, dark pants and carrying a red backpack. How copy? Over" spoke Clawhauser.

I heard Officer Grizz respond in a gruff voice saying, "Solid copy. We'll radio if we find him. Over and out."

Clawhauser put down the radio mic and was about to take a bite of his donut with a hungry, longing glare in his eyes when he paused and must have noticed me waiting right in front of his desk.

"Hopps! How are you? Hey did you get to that smuggling scene in Savanna Central alright" he said with his usual enthusiastic tone?

I then paused for a few moments and said, "Ehh…not exactly. Turns out that this case is a lot more complex than I thought. I was wondering if you could find another Officer to relieve my patrol so I can follow a possible lead I have on my suspect."

Clawhauser then said with both slight concern and confusion, "What happened? I thought he was already detained. Why would you need to chase a lead?" He then took a huge bite out of his donut and looked at me eagerly awaiting my answer.

I tried to answer as best as I could.

"Well, it's really complicated. I got to follow up on some documents that I retrieved from the detainment and see if they are valid or not. Besides, my perp was really vague and was carrying more than 20 Tons of Proginator Cells" I replied to Clawhauser.

Clawhauser's ears flattened a bit on his head as he said, "Yeah, that does seem quite suspicious there Judy."

Clawhauser then took the last bite of his donut and licked his digits before saying, "I can see what I can do for ya Judy. You sure you don't want to hand the case over to one of our detectives?"

That did get me thinking. I never even heard of ExoAmp, neither did I have any idea how on Earth this pilot had managed to acquire such a haul of Proginator Cells. It…well it did make me wonder if these were just covers for the real truth. Still, I've been a reliable Systems Authority Officer and I doubt that I wouldn't be able to handle this case on my own.

I looked at Clawhauser and shrugged my shoulders and said, "Eh, probably not. It depends on what I'm able to dig up on my suspect and my lead."

Clawhauser returned to his bubbly personality with his saying, "Alright Judy, well just let your old pal Ben know if you need anything else. Plus, you know where to find the Chief too." He smiled at me and returned to his paper work at his desk.

I moved along to the police records and database, taking a staircase up to the top floor and continuing down a hallway to the records room. Next to the door, there were retinal scanners at three heights: one for tall mammals and aliens, one for shorter mammals like myself, and one for mammals. The ZPD did have a few Hyraxes and Mice that worked in the records department, so they needed a shorter scanner they could use.

I put my eye up to the retinal scanner then I saw and felt a red beam go over my right eye. Soon afterwards, an electronic voice then said, "Identity confirmed. Welcome to records Officer Judy Hopps."

The door slid open with a hiss and came to a gentle stop once the doorway was fully open. Inside, the room had light green tiling and empty tile walls of the same color. Inside the center of the room, there were multiple sized pairs of electronic gloves siting on a small table. I went over and found one of the black pairs that fit my paws and slid them on. Immediately, lights began to turn on around the gloves as I grabbed the pair of VR glasses that were attached to the gloves via invisible electric wiring. I tapped the side of the glasses and I saw an interface pop up in the center of the room, a floating holographic control panel. The glasses were what was projecting the panel into my vision as the interface wasn't really there for an outside observer to see. This way, more than one officer could use the records and database without compromising any possibly sensitive information to anyone outside of the case, however; all activity in the records and database room was monitored by our buildings own A.I. VERN.

I tapped a few of the holographic buttons on the panel and was prompted with the ability to input a search. Since I was the only officer in the room, I decided to use the audio search.

"VERN, show me any criminal record for one Nickolas Wilde, species: Fox, age: early 30's."

VERN then responded in his own voice, which always surprised me in how it sounded since he sounded so natural.

"I have multiple search results for that Officer Hopps, do you want to view mugshots associated with them" he responded?

"Yeah VERN, show me their mugshots."

Immediately, three files materialized in front of where I was looking, right in front of me. Each was a translucent blue tinged folder, with a name hanging below the folders.

"Let's see" I said to myself.

The first file belonged to a Nickolas K. Wilde and I tapped the folder with one of the gloves and the file discharged its contents to hang in the air in front of me. I moved the files around, each one still hanging in the air where it stopped until I found the mugshot.

This one was an Arctic fox which immediately ruled my suspect out of this possibility.

I held the folder as all of the files flew back into the folder they came from. I then walked over to the next folder and pressed it once. Afterwards, the files for this folder, belonging to a Nickolas P. Wilde, flew out and hung in the air around the folder. I dug through the virtual files and found that the mugshot was exactly for the fox I was looking for.

"Bingo, Slick" I said with an upbeat tone.

I then began to look over his arrest record and found that he had three accounts of smuggling non-lethal illegal goods.

At least he's not smuggling alien weaponry and stolen goods I thought.

Anything classified as a non-lethal illegal good was still an offense in the Zootopia Federation, but it always levied a smaller fine to the perpetrator, whereas smuggling lethal goods was a felony that resulted in jail time and fines. Such goods were things like: Drugs, lethal firearms, explosives, unrestricted AIs (A.I.s with no inhibitors in their programming, therefore could be capable of bodily harm and damage to computer systems, depending on what they were installed into), as well as other things. All these had to be brought in through legal channels and have the proper paper work done for them.

As I looked further through Mr. Wilde's criminal record, I noticed that he had no charges of piracy or assault on his record, which told me that he was solely a smuggler. I did notice however, that Mr. Wilde's three other cases involved smuggling, but only the last stood out like the Proginator Cells did.

He was cited for trying to smuggle Terraphim Gorux Vodka into an independent, theocratic system within the Zootopia Federation. The count for what was scanned in his hull was only 4 tons of the liquor, well within the usual cases of smuggling.

He was cited for trying to smuggle low temperature diamonds off of the mining colony world of Fero-4, no confirmation if the diamonds were stolen or not. Amount was 6 tons, well within the normal smuggling ranges.

The final case was where things got really weird. As my eyes read over the file and I manipulated it with gloved paws to read more of it, I noticed some really odd tech that was being smuggled.

20 tons of mechano-replicators. Mechano-replicators were almost never seen in Zootopia Federation space and were highly restricted in many systems across the galaxy. These parts originate from within the territory of the Tramagadon Dominion, built by the Tramagadons to replace the worn mechano-replicators that wore out on their old platforms. The machines that were the Tramagadons used the mechano-replicators to be able to alter the physical appearance and function of their bodies to serve a number of purposes from stealth and infiltration to combat, depending on the platform the Tramagadon has.

While these parts were not restricted in the Federation themselves since we do have pockets of Tramagadon citizens throughout the Federation, they were highly regulated. The thing that got me thinking is that Mr. Wilde was cited and arrested for bringing the parts from Tramagadon space to an agricultural world in the Bleno System.

I then spoke up to VERN and said, "VERN, show me the Tramagadon population demographic of the Bleno System."

After only a couple of seconds, VERN then came responded back to me and said, "The Bleno System has a recorded 5 percent of its population as Tramagadon. It could be possible that those parts were meant for the Tramagadons there, but given the ratio of population to the amount of cargo the suspect shipped, this appears unlikely."

I knew VERN was right. There was no way that the Tramagadon population of 200 there would need that many machano-replicators.

While this was suspicious, there was nothing else to go on from here on this issue unless I visited the system to investigate. Given the fact that my case does not directly involve the system and is restricted to a crime scene on Earth, I wouldn't be able to even go to the Bleno System.

I then asked VERN, "VERN, show me everything you have on a company called ExoAmp. Their location, products, consumers, markets, everything."

VERN then said, "I have located your company in question. Showing you all I have now."

A whole bunch of articles, documents and several sources on the history of ExoAmp popped up through my glasses. I manipulated the first one, grabbing it and scrolling through an article that talked about the history of it.

"ExoAmp is a biotech company originally founded within the Suitrox Confederation. Having gone through many takeovers and changes in leadership, it now operates out of the Galactic Business Center, the inter-civilizational, independent zone of galaxy wide commerce and business located between the borders of the Suitrox Confederation, Voretox Republic and the very eastern end of the Vicron Collective. The company, which created several biotech products such as Proginator Cells and patented many plant medications for farming worlds, has now risen to be one of the larger biotech firms to operate out of the GBC" I read out loud to myself.

After reading this, Mr. Wilde's story about being under direct contract to deliver Proginator Cells on behalf of ExoAmp may not be far-fetched after all.

I then found another article and I read the title for it and I could feel a sense of surprise build in my mind.

"ExoAmp cuts contracts with private shipping pilots"

I saw the article was recent and went on to read it as it said that ExoAmp had stopped using privately hired pilots to deliver goods to company consumers and to company manufacturers. They said they quit the idea of doing this due to several shipments going 'missing' and the date for the article was 5 years ago.

That would explain why I never had a case like this involving ExoAmp before. I became a cop after ExoAmp quit this policy. However, I now knew that the fox I was dealing with was lying, and I was hell bound to get the truth from him now. The real question becomes who were the Proginator Cells meant for if this wasn't a legitimate shipment from ExoAmp.

I took off the glasses and pulled my gloves off, all of the files disappearing from view as I then said to VERN, "VERN, end database session." A gentle whirring was heard after I said this, as the natural sounding male voice of VERN then began to speak.

"Yes Officer Hopps, did you get what you needed" it asked?

I started walking out of the room and I spoke quite annoyed I had been lied to, "Not quite yet, VERN , now I need to find the truth."

I walked out of the room and the black automatic door slid shut behind me with a locking hiss as the electronic lock reengaged with the doorway.

I exited back into the hall of the top floor and began to walk to one of the offices reserved for the patrol officers. The light of the sun shone brilliantly through the floor to ceiling windows of the top floor of the ZPD, basking the hallway in light and warmth.

I got into the elevator and exited off on the second floor where the patrol offices were. First, I would have to stop by Bogo's office and fill him in on what I was dealing with. As I walked to his office I felt the usual apprehension that came with talking to the Chief as he had a very abrasive personality. However, I just needed to let him know that this case may have to turn into an investigation.

 **(TundraTown, a few hours before)**

The sun was shining through the partly cloudy day of Tundra Town as the district was full of activity, mammals and aliens going about their day to day lives. Some were taking ice platforms down the TundraTown pedestrian mover that was the artificial creek that wound its way around the district. Off in an isolated area of TundraTown, out in the alley between two abandoned warehouses, three figures stood in the frigid cold. Two of them were mammals, one was a grey wolf and the other was a Honey Badger. The third figure was a Voretox wearing thinner clothing designed for a Voretox and he clearly was not too happy with his misfortune about it.

"Snow, snow, snow. Always with the _Govetek_ snow here, as if it isn't cold enough" said the Voretox who was rubbing his arms trying to warm up, shaking from the cold in the process. As he spoke, his 'breath' formed in the air.

The Honey Badger, who was playing with a red handled switchblade nonchalantly just chuckled at the alien and said, "Oh give me a break, Avjtik, I thought your kind was supposed to be warm blooded like us. Besides, I told you that we were going somewhere cold."

Avjtik exhaled, breath hanging in the air and said, "Yeah, but I didn't expect this cold. We aren't really meant for cold weather. You know no hair and all that." Avjtik played with a small stone on the ground using his foot as he was talking

The Voretox then added in, "For gods sakes, our home planet orbits three blue stars. We don't really know the meaning of cold back home. Even during the winter, our planets temperature only drops down to the mid 50's Fahrenheit."

The wolf gave Avjtik a curious look and said, "I thought you said you were from the Korven system, not the Rigel system?"

The Voretox then said, "I am from the Korven system, but that still doesn't mean that I'm adapted to colder weather. Besides, Germati is an arid desert planet, which provides the ideal climate that we are used to. Granted, we can live in almost any environment, but we are still the most comfortable in warmer weather."

They were interrupted by the wolf that was looking at his holo-phone, "Will you two ladies stop bickering. It's cold, so what? I'm more concerned with Nick not having dropped off our bargaining chip yet. I just hope he didn't get caught by spaceport security."

Suddenly, the three of them were interrupted by a black SUV type vehicle that came descending from one sky lanes in the distance. The vehicle showed appeared first as a glimmering form in the distance, but was rapidly approaching the three of them.

The wolf then groaned and said, "And there's our contact. Only problem is…we ain't got no fucking package."

The vehicle gently lowered to the ground and displaced dust and debris until its repulsion lift system turned off when it made contact. The fusion engine of the repulsion lift vehicle powered off in a loud droning whirring noise, the sound tapering off rapidly after the engine turned off.

Then three figures made their way out of the SUV. The first two were Suitrox, the right one wearing a dark green, almost black mechanical suit. The left one was wearing a crimson red mechanical suit. Both of the Suitrox had an orange 'eye'. The third figure was a tall polar bear wearing a business suit, which seemed a bit out of place to the three observers. To the relief of the three observers, their contacts didn't seem armed, and they grateful for this being the case if things went sideways.

"Let's hope that we can negotiate with them on more time" said the Voretox softly so as to only have the Honey Badger and the wolf hear what was said.

The three from the SUV approached the two mammals and the Voretox that were standing out in the alley.

As the Suitrox got closer, one of them spoke up, "You must be the contacts that the boss told us about."

The Honey Badger then chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's us alright." He rubbed his neck nervously.

Immediately, the posture of the two Suitrox and the polar bear changed, which made the two mammals and the Voretox nervous. Their postures became that of suspicious and agitated.

One of the crimsoned colored Suitrox then said, "So…where are the Progenator Cells? Don't tell me you _Kolitoks_ don't have them."

The Voretox became slightly suspicious of what the Suitox had just said. The word Kolitok wasn't a Suitrox word, though it was really close to the actual word. The proper word, Kolitov was a Suitrox word, but the fact that the Suitrox pronounced it wrong made the Voretox very nervous and confused.

The wolf then said in almost a pleading manner, "Our contact didn't show up, all we need is more time."

The black colored Suitrox then shock its body as in signaling 'no' and said, "The boss needed the Proginator Cells by the end of this week. You want to know what he said?"

The three of them stared blankly at the two Suitrox and the polar bear, afraid of what might happen.

The Suitrox speaking before continued and said, "He said, 'if anyone slips up with this delivery, it will set back the project by months; and for each of those months lost, I will make whoever fucked up regret it, dearly.'"

The black colored Suitrox then asked again, "So…if you three geniuses didn't fuck up, then who did?"

The Honey Badger then said, "It was this fox named Nick Wilde. You'd think that a fox would be great at smuggling and being sneaky, but I guess not."

The polar Bear then spoke in an unnatural tone, sounding more machine than mammal, and said, "Then this Nick must pay for the mess the boss is in now."

Then, the wolf spoke up very concerned for his smuggler acquaintance that he knew and said, "Wait, so what you going to do to him?"

The polar bear grinned wickedly and said, "Why, make him pay for every month and every C.E.P.T lost due to his fuck up. Maybe a few nights of beatings to start before the real torture begins. The boss does love make those who fail him suffer, he especially loves to start with cutting of fingers and toes after the beatings, and when the boss is through, he won't even be recognizable as a Fox."

The wolf's expression darkened as he heard what the Polar Bear was saying. It almost made the wolf sick to his stomach.

"Hey, that Fox is one of us. He may have fucked up, but that doesn't give you a right to make him suffer" said the Wolf as he stepped forward aggressively.

The crimson colored Suitrox then chuckled and said, "Oh, I'm afraid that somebody will have to pay. The boss won't want it any other way. So unless you can tell me in the next ten seconds where those Proginator Cells are, then we're done here."

The wolf then pulled out a silver sheened laser pistol with blue lit inlay and aimed it at the three of them, "How about we give you 10 seconds to pack your shit and leave."

The Voretox and the Honey Badger followed through as well and pulled out their own concealed weapons, with the Voretox's being a hand held plasma beam emitter. The device expanded to wrap around the Voretox's right forearm and wrist as several of the components for the device began to orbit around the alien's wrist.

The other three were unphased as the right Suitrox then said, "If this is the way you want it…"

He then spoke darkly, "TERMINUS, kill them."

The polar bears eyes changed from a green to blood red and then spoke with a dark robotic tone, "With pleasure."

The bear then raised its arms upwards on either side of his body and compartments on his arms opened. Long, serrated metal blades extended with a metallic ringing noise, catching the light from the sun brightly on them.

"What the fuck" said the Honey Badger dumbfounded?"

The Polar bear then moved with remarkable speed to the wolf and impailed the wolf with the blades, blood spraying out the back of his body as the wolf screamed in agony.

"Fucking shit" cried out the Honey Badger in fear and shock as he jumped backwards from where the bear was, almost slipping on the snow covered ground in the process.

The Honey Badger and the Voretox then began to fire their weapons at the Bear, energy fire ringing out in the air with light crackling sounds and flashes of light.

Meanwhile, the wolf was wide eyed in shock and screaming, firing his laser pistol wildly out of reflex from the pain as he was lifted up into the air over the bear. The laser pistol shots impacted the nearby warehouse on the left and scorching burn marks were left on the metal and concrete structure.

The bear was unphased as the energy blasts impacted the bear's skin, leaving burn marks, but no visible damage. The bear then ripped his blades in opposite directions and tore the wolf in half right down the middle as organs and blood flew around the bear.

The bear then retracted one of its blades and a multi-barreled weapon formed out of its right arm, a four barreled electron cannon of some sort with a dark green metallic finish.

The weapon charged up with a whirring noise and the barrels lit up orange as the weapon discharged powerful electron energy blasts, the first of which hit the honey badger and blew the Badgers upper body apart into a show of gore and blood.

The Voretox then screamed and tried to run away for his life, self preservation and total fear now kicking in…that is until he grunted in pain and stopped in his tracks, feeling a wet liquid trickle down his chest. He looked down and saw a huge four sided blade, the blade that was on the bears other arm, sticking out of his chest as he began to choke out orange glowing blood.

"Gods…ha..ve m..erc..y" he said weakly, chocking on his words.

Suddenly, the four angled cutting fins of the blade shot off the central unit like a rocket and cut the Voretox into four pieces, then followed by the central blade exploding in a small blast, eviscerating the Voretox's torso.

The two Suitrox were apparently pleased with themselves at the end of the three incompetent contacts they were to meet. However, the crimson Suitrox then said, "I'm impressed with the abilities of the first generation CEPT, wouldn't you agree Javict?"

The Suitrox then made an out of place clicking found as the Suitrox's accent went away to be replace by another one.

"Oh, yes. The with what the boss has planned for this project, the galaxy won't know what hit it" the other 'Suitrox' then said.

Both of the Suitrox then walked back to the SUV vehicle as the bear grinned evilly covered in blood as the bear he then said, "Glory unto the Father who protects the Hive."

The bear shook his blade of the fresh blood as he finished marveling at the work of his weapons.

The Bear retracted his weapons and then followed after the Suitrox, getting into the SUV vehicle, the engines turning on with a loud powering up, whirring noise

Now all that was left for the three to do was to get their Proginator Cells to the claws of their boss…and Nick Wilde.

Little did the bear and the Suitrox know that a certain bunny was also on her way to talk with Nick again…and what would result next would bring not only Judy trouble, but the whole galaxy.

 **(A/N: While after a much longer than needed delay, I was able to get the next update for this story out. I hope you all liked it. As I said before, the time I dedicate to writing was mainly taken up with co-creating the story** _ **Zootopia: Two Worlds**_ **with ZombieSlayerOfTheUnderworld and Commander Sebastian. I hope to get the next update out soon, but I can't promise when it might be. Just know that I will see this story through to completion, that's a promise.**

 **Anyways, since I never actually introduced the Tramagadons in this chapter, I'll tell you a bit about them. The Tramagadons are a machine race created centuries ago by a now extinct race of aliens who made them to be a source of cheap labor and a mechanized military force. This alien race was invaded by the Vicron due to hostile aggressions that the species was taking against the Vicron Collective, resulting in the alien race using the Tramagadons to fight the Vicron in a brutal war. Eventually, the conflict wiped out the aliens controlling the Tramagadons, but due to the heightened artificial intelligence that the Tramagadons have, and with no creator race ruling over them, the Tramagadons were now free from the control of their masters. They made peace with the Vicron, or at least most of them did to prevent their kind from being wiped out. A small faction within the Tramagadon Dominion (about 15% of the 35 million Tramagadons at the time) broke off to form a splinter group. This splinter group, now fighting to avenge their fallen masters, now wages a guerrilla style war against the Vicron Collective and also participates in terror attacks and small military skirmishes against the other factions in the galaxy. The reason being is that these machines in the splinter faction see all organic life as a threat, and rather than trying to live peacefully with the other races to prevent their destruction, they feel the only way to protect their kind is to exterminate all organic life. As such, the rogue Tramagadons are one of the hostile factions and enemies in my sci-fi series.**

 **The Tramagadons can scan any weapon, creature or vehicle that is equal to the mass of the Tramagadon or less and alter its physical form to: 'transform' its limbs into weapons, change into a person, alien or animal, and if it is the much bigger type of Tramagadons meant for war, can change into a vehicle they scan.**

 **Being machines, they have a life expectancy for as long as their platform (body) keeps running.**

 **Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter everyone. Let me know what you think, what needs to be changed or if you have any questions. Stay safe and creative.)**

 **-SR2Turoka-1**


End file.
